WFD brings fire prevention lessons to 5th-graders at zoo
By PAIGE CARSWELL
Published: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Winfield Courier


Students speak to Sparky the Fire Pup at the zoo Oct. 6. The device was remotely controlled by a A person wearing a headset and out-of-sight of the students controlled the device so that Sparky could listen to and answer the fifth-graders' questions. (Special to the Courier)

Almost 3,000 fifth-graders from 42 schools in south-central Kansas, including Winfield, traveled to the Sedgwick County Zoo to learn about fire safety. The program was organized years ago by Sedgwick County. Locally Winfield Fire Marshal Alan Stoll organized the event.

The program focuses on fifth-graders because "They're a little bit older. They're a little more prepared to take in the information you're going to give them," Stoll said.

Since the trip to the zoo, Stoll and the rest of the Winfield Fire Department have stayed busy. Fire Prevention Week was officially Oct. 5-9, but the crew has since spent time covering ground in and around Winfield to make sure 1,200 more prekindergarten-fourth grade students know the basics of fire prevention. They used part of last week to make sure each school's students were exposed to the information about fire safety.

"We try to spread it out so that we hit as many children as possible," Stoll said.


The fire departments are a lot more involved in preventing fires now than they were, said Stoll, because the number of fires in the United States isn't going down.

According to the National Fire Prevention Association, in 2008, 3,320 civilians died due to fire in the U.S. Add on the 16,705 injuries, $15.5 billion in property damage and 103 firefighter deaths, and it would seem that everyone would be taking more precautions to ensure their own safety in case it happened to them.

Not so, said Stoll.

"The reason we do this is because the numbers aren't going down," he said. "We need to make that effort."

So while the firefighters still have the job of putting out fires once they happen, the goal of Fire Prevention Week is to lessen the number of fires that occur.

"We definitely focus our attention to trying to prevent fires from ever happening," Stoll said.

To prevent fires, the department begins by informing area children. In order to grab their attention, though, firefighters have to find interesting ways to present the information.

"It's hard to compete with PSPs and iPhones," Stoll said. "Every little kid likes fire trucks, but when they get older, you have to go beyond the fire trucks."

The department uses certain tools, like bringing a fire truck for the first- and second-graders, the Sparky Hazard House for third- and fourth-graders and the Smoke House for the fifth graders.

The Smoke House was one of the tools used during the zoo trip. It simulates a burning room, so students have to stay low and crawl through the house, know how to open the window and climb out to safety.

"It's a really cool tool to use," Stoll said. "Unfortunately, a lot of these tools are expensive."

The tools cost thousands of dollars and are obtained by grants and help from the community, but Stoll said they are worth the cost to educate the students.

Around $1,200 was raised to bus the fifth grade students to the zoo. The money was raised with a Kansas Fire and Injury Program grant through the health department, the Winfield Parent Teacher Organization and the Winfield Fire Department local 3083. Though preparation for the event was tedious, Stoll said that he hoped to make it an annual event.

"We definitely hope that this is going to be a yearly thing," Stoll said.

Students learned the importance of checking smoke detectors, how to make an escape plan with their parents and how to signal their presence in a burning house.

Stoll said that free smoke detectors are available at the fire department for homes that don't have any.

After the busy few weeks, he said that the hope was for students to share what they learned with their parents so that they can go over the information together and know what to do if a fire happens to them.

"People just take for granted that they leave home and they're safe," Stoll said. "Since we're living it every day, we are more passionate. We just keep on trying to prevent fires from happening. It's a lot of work, but it's well worth it."